Chương 164: Chapter 169: Crystal Honey

"I love you…" Alya's words were nearly inaudible, she was nearly dead. As she passed out I confirmed that the Baron was dead. No, unfortunately it was still alive, but it was a matter of seconds, the point was: it was a matter of seconds for Alya too. She was so badly wounded it was a miracle she wasn't dead already, her body felt like jelly, a great amount of bones were broken, and she had a hole in her chest that perforated the right lung and the venom was starting to make her look as green as a zombie.

But I wasn't idle in this moment, I was channeling and preparing a ton of life-force, but I couldn't use it yet. If I saved her before the Baron died, she would not receive the achievement, if it was just for the normal solo achievement I wouldn't give a damn, we could always find another one, but something else happened here, she managed to defeat it without using her berserker's trait, something that I could tell was very powerful, she managed to accomplish something here, and the System would acknowledge it.

But if I healed her and involved myself in her merits, I was afraid that it would be all for naught, worse, I feared that she would really not be able to go back. She needed this victory. My senses alerted me, finally the monster died, its aura dissipated from its body. I started to pour the life-force I had prepared into Alya, a great deal of the thing was entering her in large ribbons, targeting her chest first, then I changed strategy, and made the energy enter her veins, getting pumped through the heart.

The poison had wrecked havoc in her, I could feel that most of her tissues were dying. A necrotic kind of venom then, I didn't know if it was good or bad, at least I could feel the energy I was infusing her with fighting against the poison. Actually… I started to use Reinforced Infusion through the use of pure life-force. The skill was greatly impeding the venom from spreading more and affecting the tissues. Her organs weren't fine, but I was pushing thousands of insects' worth of the stuff into her.

I was sure that Mary would be able to fix her without all of this waste, but I wasn't a real healer. Still, it was working. I exhaled a breath of relief, all the while wiping away the sweat from my forehead. This was hard work, channeling so much energy wasn't easy, especially after the stunt I pulled before with that giant detonation. Not only that, but I still had to contain my aura.

I managed to pull it back from my eyes while talking to her, who knew what kind of reaction she would have had if she got spooked in that moment… I refocused, it was taking time, and I was feeling more insects approaching, I divided my attention, hexing and draining them, while healing Alya.

It took me nearly ten minutes, but I managed to remove the poison, now the energy was slowly repairing her body, I tried to focus it, but it had a life of its own, seeping into her body and spreading equally everywhere, I saw her leg twist and heard it clack, as the bone resettled. This was extremely fascinating, it seemed that the body knew how to go back to a proper state, if this happened before the System, the leg would need to be set and pinned in place with wires or screws.

Otherwise it would heal in the wrong way, I would have to ask Mary if she had the same experience with other patients. I would add it to the list of the million things I had to do. Her limbs healed, one by one, returning to normal, then I felt her organs absorb incredible amounts of life-force, they must have been badly affected by the venom, but one thing came to my mind, did healing increase the chance of cancer? This story originates from Royal Road.

Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Forcing the body to regenerate over and over, multiplying cells to repair the tissue… magical cancer maybe? I really hoped not. I ended up using all of the insects that approached, then I had to tap into the ring too, why? It was too much, I never thought this much life-force would be required, if I didn't have so much at my disposal… I would have to run to the next safe zone, hoping that I made it on time.

I should stock up on some health potions. In the end though, she was healed, still passed out, but physically she was fine, I used my cleaning ring, and focused it on her, all the blood, mud and grime disappeared from her. Then I used it for myself as well, leaving us clean. There was something I noticed though, her face. She looked younger… A side effect of using so much life-force most probably, Rhea told me I looked younger too, and we saw the effect on Marcus before, was it a blessing or a curse?

I'm sure it would feel like a blessing for most, but was it really all fine and dandy to age backwards? I had no clue, but it was better than dying for sure. I picked her up in a princess carry, cradling her head on my chest, then explored this hive a bit. The place still stunk to the high heavens, but the centermost structure, that one that looked like a beehive, was the one that smelled the most. Of course it did, there was a corpse in every cell.

Most were in an advanced state of decomposition but some were fresh too, others were just on the floor, beside chunks of insects, covered in a kind of mucus, ready to be placed in a cell. Going around I noticed a kind of opening in the topmost part of the reddish beehive, something that wasn't visible from the place we entered. Still carrying Alya I floated up, careful not to mess her up with my aura, then descended inside the structure.

It was quite empty inside, here the cells were secreting their red honey, or whatever this was, it flowed all around, down the wall and pooled in the center of the thing. The center was the most interesting thing, it was a little spire of crystal, red crystal. Rising approximately at chest height from the viscous pool it emanated a strong energy, nearly alive. This was our reward. And I would get it. Now I didn't have the same limitation as when I retrieved the venom of the serpent, my aura was much better.

So I made my manifested aura wrap around the little crystal spire, then pulled. It didn't crack or splinter, it just slid off the pool of honey, a single piece of crystallized honey essence, ready for the picking, I wrapped it in aura and made it float beside me, then looked at the pool, it felt like a pity to leave it there, so I started scraping the wall with aura and after creating a massive bowl, tried to lift it all outside of the basin. It was fucking hard, the thing weighed a ton, maybe more.

I really had to put effort into using my aura, but in the end I managed to lift most of it. Prizes in tow I went back near the now dead scorpion. I had a way of storing everything this time. I took the Vermilion Key out of my satchel, then opened a portal to my manor, this time though I felt the possibility of directing the stylus, so I made the entrance a big double door, big enough to push the monster inside, and opened it not in the living room, but in the basement.

The floating stylus drew its lines on the curved wall of the hive without trouble, then a double door appeared in its place, I pushed it open and still carrying Alya I started using my aura to open barrels and fill them with honey, I placed the crystal spire in a corner and pulled the scorpion in the middle of the room, it wouldn't stay long, given that I planned on selling it soon. I still had to think if removing the core or not, but I would see to it later.

With my work finished I went to check on my two serpent eggs, entering the dungeon I found them basically the same as before, but with the difference that the poison crystals and the cursed items and weapons were clearly less rich in energy, some of the curses in the items seemed on the verge of… dying. I had no better term for that. The little snakes were greedy, huh? I should provide some more sustenance soon, see if I could empower them some more.

I was honestly starting to get excited about the prospect of raising the little monsters, but worried that they would escape my control, so I set upon reinforcing the Veiled Marionette curse I implanted with Malignant Threshold. After noticing that the black egg didn't consume, or absorb the hidden curse, I closed the door of the dungeon and went back out of the manor.

I was happy to have accomplished what we came here for, but my curse was still eroding me little by little, the moment of respite after managing to heal Alya was already fading, and now I had to fight it back again. I gritted my teeth, I needed to move. We spent less time than I thought in this endeavor, but now it was time to reunite with the others, and reach the safe zone. I'm coming Adrian, I really hoped you'd be the bringer of good news. Because I didn't have that much time anymore.